Schoolclothes - can anyone advise generally/ about Ivydale

[supergolden88]

I need to update my daughters wardrobe as it full or half outgrown stuff, unsuitable summer clothes and so on. She starts at Ivydale in January and I am told there is a uniform althought I dont know what it is.

And having not beeen schooled in this country I have no experience of school uniforms in general. Do you buy everything through the school? Can the children only wear specific colours? I dont want to buy lots of girly/colourful autumn clothes if she can only wear them on weekends!

Does the colour scheme (if there is one) extend to shoes/tights etc?

[dan4courtz]

Hi there,

The new school tops are available to order at the school office (and i think they look great).

There are a lot of different colour choices (red, royal blue, pale blue, green and yellow) t-shirts, long sleeved tops and jumpers (they range from ?3.00 to ?4.75 each).

Then you can buy any grey skirt or trousers you like...asda and sainsburys have great cheap ones.

And all the kids i've seen have black shoes but not sure if this is regulation or not.

Hope that helps :)

[supergolden88]

Many thanks - that helps a lot. I hope your girl is enjoying it so far!!

[The Nappy Lady]

Hiya,

Black skirts/trousers are also OK (I prefer black to grey personally). and also dark jeans. Also they are considering gingham dresses for girls in summer, but this hasn't been approved yet. No rules about footwear.

PE kit is white t-shirts and black or grey shorts, leggings or tracksuit bottoms plus trainers.

It is all very relaxed to be honest.

Molly

[The Nappy Lady]

Also....no rules about colour of tights!

[nunheadmum]

Is the uniform compulsory for Ivydale - I think I heard it wasn't? If not, what's the balance between those wearing / not wearing it? Personally I think a uniform makes life much easier but I wonder how it works if it isn't compulsory.

How are things going with the new head teacher too? Early days I guess but would be interested to hear.

[The Nappy Lady]

New uniform is compulsory as of start of this term, however they are also allowing people to use the old uniform until it is outgrown, and don't seem to be clamping down hard (yet) on those not in uniform. You can order the tops through the school office, anything else you need you would get anywhere - Sainsbury's, Tescos, M&S etc.

I'd say about 70-80% now seem to be in uniform, though I admit I mostly see the infants and I suspect there is more resistance in the higher years.

The children seem to like the variety of colours, although they are in uniform they get some choice in what they are wearing each day, but not so much we end up having arguments (maybe this is just a girl thing, but we did have some humdingers over party dresses etc. in the early days). For me it really does make life a lot easier, I can't deny it.

Re the new Head - so far so good - she has been very prominent in the playground each morning and evening, and they are introducing 'parentmail' very soon, so we can opt to receive newsletters etc. that way rather than on paper (in the past they were not always guaranteed to actually get to you).

We've really only just 'got going' this year so can't say much more than that yet, but fingers crossed, the 'vibes' feel good....

[nunheadmum]

Thanks Molly. Just wondering how the choice of colours will go - unless it's pink, my LO's favourite colour seems to change with the wind at times. So do I buy several of different colours and hope she doesn't just go for one or make her pick a colour and stick with it. Mmmmmm....a couple more months to mull over that one!

[Natalie Doula]

Hi,

I decided to get a few different colours(although my daughter usually always wears red!) that way the the my daughter still feel like she is getting to choose and I don't mind which colour as long as we don't have tears and tantrums :) For me the choice of colours is great and lets the kids express their personalities a little more than more traditional uniforms.

!One word of advice on ironing, ALWAYS iron on reverse of logo. I learnt the hard way :)

Natalie x